And now that the battle had ceased, it was a sight to see where the encounter took place, the earth bedabbled with gore, the dead lying cheek by jowl, friend and foe together, and the great shields hacked and broken to pieces, and the spears snapped asunder, the daggers lying bare of sheaths, some on the ground, some buried in the bodies, some still clutched in the dead men's hands. For the moment then, seeing that it was already late in the day, they dragged together the corpses of their slain apart from those of the enemy[12] and laid them within the lines, and took their evening meal and slept; but early next morning Agesilaus ordered Gylis, the polemarch, to marshal the troops in battle order and to set up a trophy, while each man donned a wreath in honour of the god, and the pipers piped. So they busied themselves, but the Thebans sent a herald asking leave to bury their dead under cover of a truce. And so it came to pass that a truce was made, and Agesilaus departed homewards, having chosen, in lieu of supreme greatness in Asia, to rule, and to be ruled, in obedience to the laws at home.
[12] Reading, {tous ek ton polemion nekrous}, after Weiske.
It was after this[13] that his attention was drawn to the men of Argos. They had appropriated Corinth, and were reaping the fruits of their fields at home. The war to them was a merry jest. Accordingly he marched against them; and having ravaged their territory throughout, he crossed over by the pass[14] down upon Corinth and captured the long walls leading to Lechaeum. And so having thrown open the gates of Peloponnese he returned home in time for the Hyacinthia,[15] where, in the post assigned to him by the master of the chorus, he shared in the performance of the paean in honour of the god.
[13] B.C. 393.
[14] {kata ta stena}. See 'Hell.' IV. iv. 19. {kata Tenean}, according to Koppen's emendation.
[15] See Grote, 'H. G.' v. 208; Herod. ix. 7; 'Hell.' IV. v. 10.
Later on, it being brought to his notice that the Corinthians were keeping all their cattle safely housed in the Peiraeum, sowing the whole of that district, and gathering in their crops; and, which was a matter of the greatest moment, that the Boeotians, with Creusis as their base of operations, could pour their succours into Corinth by this route--he marched against Peiraeum. Finding it strongly guarded, he made as if the city of Corinth were about to capitulate, and immediately after the morning meal shifted his ground and encamped against the capital. Under cover of night there was a rush from Peiraeum to protect the city, which he was well aware of, and with break of day he turned right about and took Peiraeum, defenceless as it lay, capturing all that it contained, with the various fortresses within; and having so done retired homewards.
After these exploits[16] the Achaeans were urgent for an alliance, and begged him to join them in an expedition against Acarnania. In the course of this the Acarnanians attacked him in a defile. Storming the heights above his head with his light troops,[17] he gave them battle, and slew many of them, and set up a trophy, nor stayed his hand until he had united the Acarnanians, the Aetolians, and the Argives,[18] in friendship with the Achaeans and alliance with himself.
[16] B.C. 390-389?
[17] See 'Hell.' IV. vi. 9-11, where it is expressly stated that the action was won by the Spartan hoplites. See Hartman, 'An. Xen.' (cap. xi. 'De Agesilao libello'), p. 263, for other discrepancies between the historian and the encomiast.
[18] See perhaps 'Hell.' IV. iv. 19; vii. 2 foll.
When the enemy, being desirous of peace, sent an embassy, it was Agesilaus who spoke against the peace, [19] until he had forced the states of Corinth and of Thebes to welcome back those of them who, for Lacedaemon's sake, had suffered banishment.
[19] I.e. 'of Antalcidas, B.C. 387.' See 'Hell.' V. i. 36; Grote, 'H. G.' ix. 537 note.
And still later,[20] again, he restored the exiles of the Phliasians, who had suffered in the same cause, and with that object marched in person against Phlius, a proceeding which, however liable to censure on other grounds, showed unmistakable attachment to his party.[21]
[20] B.C. 383 and 380; see 'Hell.' V. ii. 10; iii. 10.
[21] See 'Hell.' V. iii. 16.
Thus, when the adverse faction had put to death those of the Lacedaemonians then in Thebes, he brought succour to his friends, and marched upon Thebes.[22] Finding the entire country fenced with ditch and palisading, he crossed Cynoscephalae[23] and ravaged the district right up to the city itself, giving the Thebans an opportunity of engaging him in the plain or upon the hills, as they preferred. And once more, in the ensuing year,[24] he marched against Thebes, and now surmounting these palisades and entrenchments at Scolus,[25] he ravaged the remainder of Boeotia.
[22] B.C. 378.
[23] See 'Hell.' V. iv. 34 foll.; for the site see Breitenbach, ad loc.
[24] B.C. 377.
[25] See 'Hell.' V. iv. 47.
Hitherto fortune had smiled in common upon the king himself and upon his city. And as for the disasters which presently befell, no one can maintain that they were brought about under the leadership of Agesilaus. But the day came when, after the disaster which had occurred at Leuctra, the rival powers in conjunction with the Mantineans fell to massacring his friends and adherents[26] in Tegea (the confederacy between all the states of Boeotia, the Arcadians, and the Eleians being already an accomplished fact). Thereupon, with the forces of Lacedaemon alone, [27] he took the field, and thus belied the current opinion that it would be a long while before the Lacedaemonians ventured to leave their own territory again. Having ravaged the country of those who had done his friends to death, he was content, and returned home.
[26] Or intimates.
[27] B.C. 370. See 'Hell.'VI. v. 21.
After this Lacedaemon was invaded by the united Arcadians, Argives, Eleians, and Boeotians, who were assisted by the Phocians, both sections of the Locrians, the Thessalians, Aenianians, Acarnanians, and Euboeans; moreover, the slaves had revolted and several of the provincial cities;[28] while of the Spartans themselves as many had fallen on the field of Leuctra as survived. But in spite of all, he safely guarded the city, and that too a city without walls and bulwarks. Forbearing to engage in the open field, where the gain would lie wholly with the enemy, he lay stoutly embattled on ground where the citizens must reap advantage; since, as he doggedly persisted, to march out meant to be surrounded on every side; whereas to stand at bay where every defile gave a coign of vantage, would give him mastery complete.[29]
[28] Lit. 'perioecid'; see Plut. 'Ages.' xxxii. (Clough, iv. 39); 'Hell.' VI. v. 32.
[29] Is this parallel to 'Hell.' VII. v. 10, or 'Hell.' VI. v. 28? According to the historian, Agesilaus adopted similar tactics on both occasions (in B.C. 369 and B.C. 362 alike). The encomiast after his manner appears to treat them as one. Once and again his hero 'cunctando restituit rem,' but it was by the same strategy.
After the invading army had retired, no one will gainsay the sound sense of his behaviour. Old age debarred him from active service on foot or horse, and what the city chiefly needed now, he saw, was money, if she looked to gain allies. To the task therefore of providing that he set himself. Everything that could be done by stopping at home he deftly turned his hand to; or when the call arose and he could better help his country by departure he had no false pride; he set off on foreign service, not as general, but as ambassador. Yet on such embassy he achieved acts worthy of the greatest general. Autophradates[30] was besieging Ariobarzanes,[31] who was an ally of Sparta, in Assos; but before the face of Agesilaus he fled in terror and was gone. Cotys,[32] besieging Sestos, which still adhered to Ariobarzanes, broke up the siege and departed crestfallen. Well might the ambassador have set up a trophy in commemoration of the two bloodless victories. Once more, Mausolus[33] was besieging both the above-named places with a squadron of one hundred sail. He too, like, and yet unlike, the former two, yielded not to terror but to persuasion, and withdrew his fleet. These, then, were surely admirable achievements, since those who looked upon him as a benefactor and those who fled from before him both alike made him the richer by their gifts.
[30] Satrap of Lydia.
[31] Satrap of Propontis or Hellespontine Phrygia.
[32] Satrap of Paphlagonia, king of Thrace. Iphicrates married his daughter. See Grote, 'H. G.' x. 410.
[33] Satrap of Caria.
Tachos,[34] indeed, and Mausolus gave him a magnificent escort; and, for the sake of his former friendship with Agesilaus, the latter contributed also money for the state of Lacedaemon; and so they sped him home.
[34] King of Egypt.
